Since I have lost a little weight I feel tinges of feeling different about myself. I have never been the type to spend too much time primping and preening. I am not a super model but I like the way I look. It is the way God intended me to be and I doubt I was any sort of mistake. :D All of that being said in the past three years the little bit of time I did spend worrying about my appearance has gone by the wayside. I didn't care what I weighed. I didn't care how I dressed. I didn't bother with makeup or hair. Why would I? I am a Mom and I don't think my kids care if I am wearing mascara.
Then I started to lose a few pounds. That was a huge incentive to think about my appearance. Then I got a little tanner this summer (and for me tan equals not being Casper the Friendly Ghost). I dressed a little better. I brushed my hair on rare occasions (:-D). I just took a few minutes each day to think about how I was presenting myself to the world.
As I have lost more weight and gotten a deeper shade of pale and dressed a little nicer I have been thinking a lot about to what degree does it matter how we present ourselves to the world. If I am a disheveled mess am I not precipitating the stereotype of the scattered SAHM? Do I owe it to myself and to my kids to be the best me I can be? I don't know. I struggle a little with this. It is much more important to me that I be a good Mom and wife than well dressed and dolled up. But does being a good Mom and wife mean I have to be a mess???
I realize I am rambling here... I am working through this. I want to care for myself and not always put myself last. I also don't want to become one of those people who lost weight and got a new wardrobe and now no one can stand being in a room with them. You know one of these people, don't you? I guess the question is where do I rank. When do I start thinking about myself as something other than a Mom and a wife? When am I Kristen again?
If beauty is in the eye of the beholder than how the hell do we define said beauty???
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4 comments:
For me, I'm a much better mom, wife, daughter, friend, etc. when I take care of myself. If I'm not happy with myself then I'm not usually happy at all. Happiness within myself depends on my mental health (which is extremely tied to the amount of exercise I get) and physical health and even all the way down to feeling comfortable in my clothes. I don't bother much with makeup and I don't ever do anything with my hair but I make time to exercise b/c I don't function well without it and with exercise and maintaining a healthy weight I feel better in my clothes, in my head and that trickles to all the other areas of my happy being. I think your comment makes perfect sense and I say GOOD FOR YOU!
I agree with Michelle, that in order to be good in all other facets of our lives, we need to take care of ourselves.
That being said I will fully admit that I put myself last ALL.THE.TIME. Especially right now with not feeling good. I try to justify it by telling myself that even on a bad day I still look better than at least half of the shoppers at Wal-Mart. ;)
Losing weight is a great incentive though to taking a step towards putting yourself as a higher priority. When I lost all the weight a couple of years ago it kicked me in the butt. I started buying nicer clothes, sexy under my regular clothes "things", making sure my hair looked nice, putting an extra couple of minutes into my makeup, wearing perfume again. I was proud of myself for the hard work and proud of my appearance. It wasn't a vanity thing as much as allowing myself to see how far I'd come.
Congrats again on the weight loss and for taking a little extra time for yourself! Of anyone I know, you certainly deserve to feel good. You are AMAZING!
Thanks M. You brought a huge smile to my face. :D
I think it is very true that when you feel better about yourself it does trickle into other aspects of your life for sure.
Man I struggle with this one alot. Like Michelle, feeling healthy is important for me so I always make time for my exercise and make it a point to eat right (oh boy the list of fun things I've cut from my diet is so depressingly long)...but in terms of primping...it's always on the wish list. I try and do the BIG things right and hope the rest falls into place. Like I may not do my hair everyday, but I do pay alot to get it cut and highlighted every 6 weeks...hopefully that offsets the daily lameness. I just want to feel attractive but find that it is a moving target.
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